For the 25 hours of Yom Kippur, we embark on a transformative spiritual journey. We abstain from food and drink, we wear white, and we take an honest look inside to reflect on who we have become and who we could be. We search our souls and immerse ourselves in prayer, affirmed by Divine forgiveness and the holy possibility of change. Before these 25 hours begin, we invite you to add greater depth and meaning to your journey with the wisdom, insights, and illumination provided by this extraordinary collection of resources.
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With its heart-opening melody and complicated text, the Kol Nidre prayer is so consequential that the entire service in which it is recited has taken on its name. We invite you to explore the experience of Kol Nidre with Yitzhak Pearlman, Rabbi Ethan Tucker, Rabbi Carole Balin, and more. →
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The Vidui, our confessional, offers a variety of pathways toward pouring out our individual and communal sins, thus opening ourselves to a full cleansing of the spirit. Explore the power of this liturgy with teachings from Yavilah McCoy, Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, Alden Solovy, and more. →
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Throughout the generations, the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy have been known to bring salvation and forgiveness to the Jewish people. As we invoke them on Yom Kippur for that very reason, explore new ways that we might understand their meaning with a teaching from Devora Steinmetz and a powerful episode of On Being with Krista Tippett. →
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In the pleas of our prayer on Yom Kippur, we fervently pray that our voices might rise up to reach God, and that ultimately, God might hear those very voices. Expressing this concept, we invite you to explore the text of Shema Koleinu and the beautiful piyyut (liturgical poem) of Ya’aleh with the teachings of Joey Weisenberg, Rabbi Chen Ben-Or Tsfoni, and Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz. →
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On the morning of Yom Kippur we read from the Torah about the procedures for Yom Kippur in biblical times. To understand this more deeply, we invite you to explore these teachings from Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, Ari Hoffman, the Judaism Unbound Podcast, and more. →
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Yom Kippur morning’s Haftarah from Isaiah seems to challenge the very spiritual practices that define the holy day, pushing us to investigate not just our spirituality but also our ethical deeds. To investigate further, explore these powerful teachings, including some timely messages from our partners at St. Paul and St. Andrew and the West Side Campaign Against Hunger. →
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The memorial service of Yizkor is especially evocative on Yom Kippur, a day on which the boundaries between life and death are so deeply blurred. As we prepare for Yizkor, go deeper with these resources from Pauline Boss and Nessa Rapaport, and an excerpt from the film, When People Die They Sing Songs. →
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Just as the Torah reading for Yom Kippur explains the precise ritual that the High Priest would perform on Yom Kippur, so too do we internalize that process through the Seder Ha-Avodah. Explore its core meaning, power and resonance in our lives today with these resources from Rabbi Leon Morris, Aviva Chernick, Ruth Calderon, and more. →
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Invoking the memories of martyrs throughout Jewish history, the Eleh Ezkerah section of Yom Kippur invites us to consider their narratives through time and in this moment on this day. As you prepare for this introspection, we invite you to consider these insights from Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, Daniel Libeskind, Ittai Shapira, and more. →
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At the Minha service for Yom Kippur, we read the holiness code from Leviticus. Explore how we might internalize this code and its personal meaning with Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, and more. →
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Through the Book of Jonah, we allow themes of repentance and forgiveness to resonate even more deeply. Through teachings from Rabbi Mordecai Schwartz, Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg, we invite you to connect with the themes in a new way. →
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In this Yom Kippur’s final service of Ne’ilah, we bring extra intensity to our prayers, connecting on a more intimate level as we feel the drama of the gates closing. Unpacking this, we invite you to learn from Lizzie Leiman Kraiem, David Litt, Rabbi Bronwen Mullin, and more. →